This time, I will write something short about one of my favourite topics. I have already discussed that good gameplay sometimes results from bad usability. This time, I would like to show how bad usability can spoil a game, like it is a case in Lost in Blue for the Nintendo DS.

Position your hands like that for the most comfortable “Lost in Blue” expierience. You can use your 5 other hands to scratch your head or have a drink.

People say that if you want to learn how to make good movies, it is helpful to watch the not-so-good movies. Good movies are “closed”, they don’t allow any insight into how they work. It is the same with games, which is why I like Lost in Blue so much. It has some realy good ideas but also some bad flaws. I suggest taking a look at it because it is rare and might disappear with time. You can learn a lot about game design from it.

Continue reading “Lost in Blue: Game Design and Usability”

Last time i talked about the controls of loco roco which make the game very accessible for everyone. This time i want to talk about another principle on how to make a game accesibble, which seems to have been lost for ages.

Turn-based gameplay.

Before I begin, I want to give the disclaimer that I will explain the power (as i see it) of turn-based gameplay on another turn-based strategy game. Of course the turn-based gameplay is strongly tied to strategic games, because it gives the player time to think, which is important in strategic games. But it isn’t necessary to tie turn-based gameplay to full blown strategic games – which i will explain later, too.

Continue reading “Pax Galaxia: Accessibility of Turn-Based Games”

Games and usability is one of my favourite topics and I would like to devote some posts to discuss it. In interface design, a quite important aspect of a user interface is usability. However, applying usability on games is problematic at least. One game that shows the problem quite clearly is Street Rod from California Dreams / Logical Design Works. It might give some insight on topic of breaking standarts, which has already been discussed in the controversal post about non-standart controls.


The Fast and the Furious of your grandparents.

The game is old, short and Polish, so you probably don’t know it, which is a pity. On the other hand, since it is so rare and old you can get it for free on notorious abandonware sites. I recomend you to do so. In many ways, Street Rod (and Street Rod 2) is an example of brilliant game design.

Continue reading “Street Rod: Game Design and Usability”

Today, I would like to write something about “Hardcore” and “Casual” players and how there is no such thing. As we all know, at some point somebody came up with those two names to explain how different people react to games. This distinction was used a long time in the industry. Indeed, the idea is simple enough to understand just by the sound of the words. Yet, makes you look like you actually have a profound concept and understanding of the market. Yes, the idea is perfect for idiotic powerpoint-based marketing meetings!


A scientific proof of how hardcore my grilfriend is.

Seriously, the distinction between “Hardocre” and “Casual” is just stupid and at least the game designers should immiediatly stop using it. Actually, the Nintendo DS Game “Brain Age” reminded me how difficult and complex the situation is. In fact, its so difficult and complex that understanding it might be the key to understand general cultural development.

Continue reading “Brain Age: Everybody is Hardcore”

As a small experiment Yu-Chung and I decided to write about the same game to compare what different topics we would talk about. You can read what Yu-Chung has to say about Street Fighter 3 here.

For me, SF3 is a piece of brilliant game design. However, the designers of the newer parts seem to have forgotten what made the game so great in the first place. So yes, they develop the game mechanics further and it becomes more and more refined, but they aren’t able to reinvent themselves.

So let us talk about what realy makes Street Fighter so incredibly brilliant.

Continue reading “Street Fighter 3: Context is King!”